Alex Keble looks at the key talking points from an intriguing first seven Matchweeks
Things are beginning to take shape in the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.
Seven rounds of fixtures might seem like a small sample size, but we are almost one fifth of the way through the season.
And seven matches can be instructive. The same teams who were in the top five at this stage of 2023/24 were also there at the end, albeit not in the same order, with Tottenham Hotspur dropping from second to fifth.
PL top five points' comparison 23/24
| Pts after seven matches | Pts after 38 matches | ||
| Man City | 18 | Man City | 91 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spurs | 17 | Arsenal | 89 |
| Arsenal | 17 | Liverpool | 82 |
| Liverpool | 16 | Aston Villa | 68 |
| Aston Villa | 15 | Spurs | 66 |
We are therefore well within our rights to start drawing conclusions. Here are 10 things we have learned from the new Premier League season so far...
Haaland is papering over defensive cracks in Rodri’s absence
Rodri’s injury has severely diminished Manchester City’s defensive qualities.
Man City are far easier to counter-attack through the middle without Rodri there to press, which in turn is allowing teams to play a through-ball beyond the high line.
Adama Traore got in behind City's defence numerous times for Fulham last weekend and seven days earlier, Anthony Gordon broke through to win a penalty from which Newcastle United equalised.
In fact, City have had the lower Expected Goals (xG) in three of their four matches against top-10 teams - Newcastle, Fulham and Chelsea.
The exception was Arsenal, who were down to 10 men for the entire second half at the Etihad Stadium and still came within seconds of winning.
Matches v top 10 teams when Man City had lower xG
| Match |
| Chelsea (1.01) v Man City (0.77) |
|---|
| Newcastle (1.57) v Man City (0.91) |
| Man City (1.57) v Fulham (2.60) |
xG score in brackets
On the flip side, Erling Haaland is in sensational form, looking more clinical than ever before.
Last month, Pep Guardiola said Haaland is fully fit for the first time since joining the club. He is staying for extra training sessions and, after a summer break, looks sharper in every facet of his game.
His 10 goals in seven Premier League matches has helped to make up for the loss of Rodri - for now.
Palmer’s brilliance has put Chelsea in the top-four race
We don’t yet know what to make of Enzo Maresca’s start as Chelsea head coach, even though he has guided the team to fourth in the table with 14 points from seven fixtures.
Maresca was supposed to bring football played like chess - ultra-structured and slow paced - but instead Chelsea have been mayhem.
Maybe that’s just because Chelsea’s opponents have been chaotic, drawing Maresca’s side into madcap encounters like the 4-2 win against Brighton & Hove Albion and 6-2 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Or maybe he is adapting his tactics to fit the squad profile.
Who knows, and frankly, with Cole Palmer playing like he is, who cares?
When Palmer finished with 22 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League last season, there was an expectation he had probably over-performed a little.
Nope. Palmer has become an even better player this season, adding the responsibility of being an Eden Hazard-esque creative leader to his existing role of elite goalscorer.
He is averaging 1.66 goal involvements per 90 this season, up from 1.14 in his debut campaign.
Arsenal's front three has improved even more than defence
A lot of the talk surrounding Arsenal has been about Riccardo Calafiori, Jurrien Timber and a back four that looks even stronger than last season, as well as making a big contribution to the club's ever-increasing success at attacking set-pieces.
But Mikel Arteta’s side have improved most of all in the front line.
Kai Havertz looks like the No 9 we saw come through at Bayer Leverkusen, scoring in each of his last four matches in all competitions.
Gabriel Martinelli is flying again, with four goal involvements in the Premier League already, and Bukayo Saka has a career-high average of 1.43 goals and assists per 90 in the competition, having scored two and set up seven.
Dropping points against Brighton and Man City, both times following red cards for players kicking the ball away, has dampened the mood slightly.
But supporters shouldn’t let this get them down. Arsenal have gone up another level.
Slot has started well but Liverpool are yet to be tested
Top of the Premier League with six wins from seven and just two goals conceded: not even Arne Slot would have expected the transition from Jurgen Klopp to go so smoothly.
Liverpool’s calmer control - led by the impressive Ryan Gravenberch, a Dutch midfielder symbolising the best of Slot’s grounded, tempo-shifting football - has been commendable, while a kind run of fixtures has also helped.
We just don’t know how good this team really is. In fact, Liverpool’s 15 points is one fewer than the 16 they won from the corresponding fixtures in 2023/24, if we overlook the win at Ipswich Town, who were not in the division last season.
Maybe that’s unfair - we could compare the competent 2-0 win at Portman Road to the 1-1 draw at Luton Town in 2023/24 - but nevertheless we cannot yet speak confidently about the Slot revolution.
Liverpool's next four opponents are Chelsea (H), Arsenal (A), Brighton (H) and Aston Villa (H). That is when the real tests begin.
European football is taking a toll on Villa and Spurs
Spurs slowed down dramatically in the second half of last season, presumably because their hard-pressing all-action football was exhausting for a squad ravaged by injuries.
It is no surprise, then, to see the first signs of fatigue this month following their Thursday-night exertions in the UEFA Europa League.
Ange Postecoglou will need to find a way to rotate between the competitions, because with an extra 10+ matches to be played all across Europe, his unique style of football will stretch Spurs to their limits and beyond - as we saw in their second-half collapse against Brighton last weekend.
Villa perhaps have the same problem. Their strong results so far have not always been matched with performances and without extraordinary super-sub Jhon Duran, they would not be as high in the table.
The sheer exhaustion that defined last Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Manchester United was instructive.
There is no need to panic - that goes for Villa and Spurs - but the intense demands of UEFA Champions League and Europa League football respectively could hamper domestic progress.
Man Utd are at a record low despite improved defence
First, the positives. Man Utd have been better than last season in most of their Premier League matches, thanks to a more assertive press and some front-foot defending from a back four that no longer seems to backpedal at every opportunity.
They have kept four clean sheets in seven matches, only conceding goals against Liverpool, Spurs and Brighton.
Nevertheless, Erik ten Hag’s side have won eight points from seven matches, their lowest in Premier League history - breaking the club record set last season - and lowest since 1989/90.
The five goals Man Utd have scored are also the fewest at this stage of the season since 1972/73, while the 0-0 draw at Villa Park extended their winless run to five matches in all competitions.
Things have got better. But having started from such a low base, a lot of supporters have barely noticed.
Nuno and Forest look like the perfect fit
Nuno Espirito Santo’s reputation took a hit following his ill-fated four months in charge of Spurs but he is beginning to restore it, turning Nottingham Forest into something resembling the Wolves side that he led to consecutive seventh-place finishes.
Forest aren’t quite at that level but there are obvious tactical similarities: a compact and mean defence combined with rapid counter-attacks.
Forest's 10 fast breaks rank fourth in the Premier League and they are joint-second for shots from fast breaks with nine, while only Liverpool, Arsenal and Villa have conceded a lower xG total than their 7.8.
Chris Wood’s goalscoring streak of four goals in seven matches is a major factor in their early success this season, while Elliot Anderson and James Ward-Prowse have improved central midfield, previously Forest’s weakest position.
Life without Palhinha has come easy to Fulham
Joao Palhinha made a competition-high 152 tackles last season, and 148 the year before, again the most in the division. Surely his sale to Bayern Munich would hurt Fulham?
Apparently not. Rather than attempt to cover for Palhinha with an extra midfield battler, Marco Silva has made the surprise decision to make his midfield more progressive, fielding Andreas Pereira and Emile Smith Rowe together in front of the impressive Sasa Lukic.
It has worked brilliantly so far, and if Fulham had finished more of their chances at the Etihad Stadium, when they boasted a higher xG than Man City, as you can see below, they would now have the same number of points as fourth-placed Chelsea.
With Raul Jimenez in good form - he has amassed four goals and an assist in his last seven matches in all competitions - Fulham have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe.
Ipswich and Leicester both have a shot at survival
Before a ball had been kicked, most pundits had written off Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton, so it is pleasing to see that the relegation battle already looks more competitive than expected.
Ipswich’s four consecutive Premier League draws were proof that Kieran McKenna’s coaching will make them hard to beat, and despite the setback of the 4-1 defeat at West Ham, supporters are optimistic Liam Delap can fire them to safety.
Leicester have also surprised a few people. Steve Cooper’s defensive football isn’t as easy on the eye as Maresca’s but it’s starting to get results - four points from the last three matches is a strong return.
Leicester's last three results
Facundo Buonanotte has undoubtedly been the breakout star for Leicester, providing the sort of creativity Southampton would love - although the Saints need to sort out their defence first.
Russell Martin’s side continue to make unforced errors leading to goals - six so far - because of the manager’s desire to play a possession style of football.
At the moment, Southampton are the most likely of the three promoted clubs to go down. But there is plenty of time for Martin to find a winning formula.
Big summer sales are hurting Wolves & Palace
Of all the teams who played in the Premier League last season, Wolves and Crystal Palace are the only two left without a win. The reason why is fairly obvious.
Wolves sold Max Kilman and Pedro Neto in the summer and were unable to bring in adequate replacements for arguably their two best players.
Unsurprisingly, Wolves have conceded a division-high 21 goals and are struggling to create counter-attacking chances.
Palace are in a similar position. They managed to hold onto Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze, but losing Michael Olise to Bayern Munich and Joachim Andersen to Fulham has left too much for the remaining stars to do.
Oliver Glasner and Gary O’Neil are good managers capable of turning things around, and indeed they may simply need our patience as their respective Palace and Wolves squads recalibrate, but they could scarcely have had worse starts. It could be a long old season for both clubs.
